


In the Night

by endgirl



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: D/s, F/F, Femslash, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-22
Updated: 2011-06-22
Packaged: 2017-10-20 15:26:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/214207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endgirl/pseuds/endgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kahlan returns to Denna's brothel alone -- and it isn't the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the [legendland](http://legendland.livejournal.com/) 10 word/paragraph challenge... and then things got out of hand.
> 
> Prompts: midnight, stranger, mischievous, time, blood, candles, hours, awake, silver, silence, books, kneel, air

Kahlan pushed open the heavy door and stepped in from the cold. It was close to midnight, but the entrance hall glowed warm and bright. The sound of women’s laughter floated in from the rooms beyond, and Kahlan tried in vain to pick one particular voice out of the cacophony. She stood in the vestibule, rubbing her chilled hands together and wondering, not for the first time, what she was doing here.

“You looking for work, darling?” A brassy voice startled Kahlan from her thoughts, and she looked to her left to find that a stranger had appeared in one of the arched inner doorways. The woman’s dark hair was pulled into an elaborate spiral, and the green velvet that hugged her body made her look more naked than clothed.

“No,” Kahlan said quickly. Too quickly, from the way the woman laughed, a mischievous smile curling her lips.

“Just here for a good time, hmm?” she said.

“No,” Kahlan snapped. But she could feel the blood rising in her cheeks. “I’m here to see Denna.”

The woman looked at Kahlan with eyes that seemed to have suddenly come out of a fog. When she spoke, there was no more lilting tease in her voice. “You know the way, then,” she said brusquely, gesturing to some candles that stood on a gilded table against the wall.

Kahlan did know the way, but she had never been allowed to approach Denna on her own. She’d been made to wait, sometimes for hours, until her anger and anticipation made her knees shake. She watched the woman in green disappear before she took a candle holder from the table. She stepped through a doorway to her right and left the bright, lavish entryway behind. She held the candle up against the dim light as she walked down the corridor and climbed the long staircase she had come to know.

With each step, Kahlan felt her frozen insides begin to come awake. Her stomach clenched, the way it always did, and a fine sheen of moisture coated the palms of her hands. At the same time, her heart thumped harder and harder, until she was sure it had reached its limit of mixed-up feelings, and would soon stop altogether.

But it didn’t stop, and Kahlan reached the door she sought. She turned the silver knob without thinking, already anticipating the way Denna would be standing in the center of the large room, as cocky as she was stunning. But when Kahlan pushed the door open, a curious feeling overcame her, as if she had entered a secret place. Denna was not standing there, waiting for her. She was sitting at the desk against the side wall, and she was writing on a piece of parchment. She did not look up when Kahlan entered.

Kahlan stood close by the door and watched the way Denna’s arm moved as she wrote. She did not wear one of her many fine gowns, nor any jewels, and her loose blond hair startled Kahlan into silence. Kahlan had always assumed that Denna’s extravagant dresses were just her normal attire, but now she had to wonder. She breathed in deeply and let her lungs fill with the room’s scent. And as always, she marveled at the way it made her feel nervous and content and much too warm, all at once.

At last, Denna finished writing, and she slid her paper between two books that sat in a neat stack. Kahlan waited for her to turn around.

When Denna finally rose, the look in her eyes was hard. “Kneel,” she said.

“What?” The air rushed out of Kahlan’s lungs, and her question was more like a gasp than a word. Her fingertips trembled at her side, but whether in fear or yearning she wasn’t sure. Denna’s plain, brown leather pants clung to her legs, and Kahlan could just glimpse the curve of her body through the sheer white fabric of her shirt.

“I will not repeat myself.”

Kahlan swallowed, but still she did not move. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Denna gave her a smile, the one that might have made her run, months ago. “Do you need to be reminded of the rules, pet?”

Kahlan shook her head no; her throat felt too hot and dry to speak. Denna was advancing on her, graceful and feral at the same time, and Kahlan felt muscles clench low in her belly.

Denna’s hand was surprisingly gentle as she reached out and guided Kahlan to the floor. Her knees hit the hard wood, and Denna took the half-burned candle from her hand. She stepped behind Kahlan to unclasp the heavy winter cloak from around her shoulders, but Denna’s hands brushed her neck as she did so, and the loss of the cloak did nothing to cool Kahlan’s burning skin.

Denna circled slowly back around, until she stood in front of the woman on the floor. “Despite our arrangement, you presume to enter my chambers without an invitation,” she said.

Kahlan stared up at her, though she knew she shouldn’t. “I didn’t presume. The woman downstairs told me I could come up.”

“Quiet!” Denna snapped.

Kahlan fell silent, but defiance still rattled within her.

“Tell me, pet, are you responsible to _the woman downstairs_?” Denna punctuated the words with icy distaste.

Kahlan licked her lips and let her gaze drift slowly to the floor. “No, Denna.”

“Mmm. Are you trying to tell me you would prefer her company? Shall I fetch her for you, so you can tell her how well you followed her directions?”

Kahlan recognized a threat when she heard one, and her eyes flew back to Denna’s face. “No!” Kahlan felt as if the ground was shifting underneath her, and she couldn’t quite find her balance. Denna raised an eyebrow, and she managed to collect herself in time to avert her gaze and give a proper answer. “No, Denna, I don’t prefer her company. Please don’t bring her.”

Denna held one pale hand delicately to her chin. “Do you know what I think, pet? I think that you _chose_ to disobey me. Just the same as you chose to come here tonight.”

“No, I didn’t,” Kahlan said, but she began to feel unsure. “She said--”

“Yes, what exactly did she say?” Denna interrupted.

“She said that...” Kahlan faltered, and her forehead creased with the realization. “I knew the way.”

“Ah. And you took her words to mean that you should march through my home and enter my rooms without permission?”

“I....” Was that what had happened? “Yes,” Kahlan finally said, her voice unsteady.

“So you knew the rules, yet you chose to break them.” Denna’s words were clipped, and she folded her arms over her chest.

“Yes,” Kahlan whispered. Denna was right; she had known the rules. And she had broken them anyway.

“Why did you do this?” As she spoke, Denna stepped over to the finely carved chair at her desk and turned it to face the center of the room. She sat down in the chair and waited.

“Because....” Kahlan drew in a wavering breath and squeezed her eyes shut. The truth twisted keenly in her gut. “Because I wanted you to punish me, Denna.” And it was true. There were times, like now, when what Kahlan craved was not a quiet evening and gentle dominance. When she needed something more from Denna.

Denna motioned with one finger for Kahlan to come to her. Instinctively, Kahlan fell forward and began to crawl. She could no more resist Denna’s call than she could renounce her Confessor’s power. As she put one hand in front of the other, Denna spoke. “And do you think I should, pet?” Each word was measured and sharp, and each made Kahlan shiver.

“If it pleases you, Denna,” she murmured. She knelt beside the chair, so close that her breath would have tickled Denna’s thighs, had she not been holding it.

“What I _should_ do,” Denna said, as she pulled Kahlan up and across her lap, “is send you straight back to where you came from, to your Seeker and that ridiculous wizard.

Kahlan arched up in alarm. “No!” she gasped. She started to say more, but she was cut off.

“Hush,” Denna said gruffly, though there was an unexpected tinge of warmth in her voice. She used her left hand to press Kahlan’s shoulders back down, until the Confessor was forced to relax against her legs. She reached her other hand back and pulled something out of the smallest desk drawer. When she had what she wanted, she yanked up the fabric of Kahlan’s white dress, baring her from the waist down. “You will count.”

Kahlan felt something smooth and cold against her naked backside, and all of her muscles tensed in anticipation. Before she could speak, before she could beg Denna to use something else, the silver hairbrush came down against her skin with a sharp crack. She cried out, more in protest than at the pain, though her ass stung already. Kahlan hated the brush because it was so impersonal, and Denna knew it.

“Please, Denna,” she said. The brush struck again on her other cheek. “Please, let it be your hand.”

Denna brought the brush down a third time. “My hand is for your mistakes,” she hissed. “You have deliberately disobeyed me.” Another smack. “You have not been counting, so I will begin again.”

Kahlan felt tears pooling in her eyes, but she held them in. For as much as she hungered for the closeness of Denna’s skin, and as much as she despised the humiliating, inhuman sting of the brush, she knew the other woman was right. This was what she needed. When the metal snapped against her upper thigh, she panted out, “One.”

Denna’s strokes were hard and fast from the start. This was a punishment, not a warm-up, and it wasn’t long before Kahlan gasped and cried as she counted. 

At twenty, Kahlan’s ass throbbed and she began to sob openly. She wished she had never listened to that woman, never barged in, never disappointed Denna. But Denna kept spanking her through the frustrated tears, again and again, until she went limp. Until the sobs that wracked her body were not for her own pain, but because she had gone to that place only Denna could take her.

“I’m sorry -- _twenty-five_ ,” she cried.“Please, please -- _twenty-six_ \-- Please, Denna, I’m so sorry.”

By the time Denna reached thirty and put down the hairbrush, Kahlan’s apologies had slurred into a desperate jumble of wails. Denna ran her hand lightly over her pet’s abused skin. After many long minutes, her crying calmed, and only the sound of their heavy breathing filled the room.

“I’m sorry, Denna,” she said again, as soon as she trusted her voice.

“Shh,” Denna said, stroking fingers over her back. “You are already forgiven. You did well, pet.” 

A final, half-hearted sob came out of Kahlan’s throat, but it was accompanied by a small smile that she hid against her arm. The pain in her backside was suddenly tolerable, maybe even pleasant. Denna forgave her. Denna was proud of her. The praise made her feel buoyant, as if the world were new again.

When Denna removed her hands from Kahlan’s body, Kahlan shifted slightly, prepared to return to her knees and await the next command. But as soon as she started to rise, a hand snaked into the hair at the back of her neck and held her firmly in place.

“Not yet,” Denna said, her voice low.

Kahlan settled immediately. She was anxious to please Denna, to show her how good she could be. And in truth, she liked the feeling of Denna’s warm body beneath her own. She had lived for so long without human contact, and then with only the Seeker’s puppy love caresses. She had never imagined that touching another person could feel like this.

As she let herself relax back into Denna’s lap, Kahlan’s legs brushed together, and she became suddenly aware of the wetness that had pooled between them. Her face flushed red, for she was sure that Denna already knew. The more she thought about it, the more she ached to press her legs together, to force any sort of friction against her flesh. But that was against the rules, and Denna’s right hand rested on the back of her thigh in warning.

Denna reached back to the desk once more, and for a split second Kahlan feared it was to retrieve the hairbrush. But the next thing she felt was not the hateful bite of cold metal -- it was just the opposite. Wet fire seemed to splash against her thigh, right where Denna’s hand had just been. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. It wasn’t painful, not exactly, but it made Kahlan gasp and jerk.

The hand in her hair clenched around the back of her neck. “Lie still,” Denna bit out.

Kahlan forced her body to release its tension, and the hand around her neck loosened. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the brass candlestick she had used to find her way up the stairs. And she saw Denna smile, right before she tipped it over. Wax splashed again onto her leg, and she drew in a shaking breath.

Denna painted her way over Kahlan’s body, dribbling wax in delicate stripes and flowing pools. She moved from her thighs to her lower back, and she dripped the milky liquid along Kahlan’s sides as they shuddered. When Denna’s candle reached the worst of the bruises she had made with the brush, Kahlan changed her mind about the wax: it was agony. It felt as if her skin were burning from the inside out, and each flame stoked the desperate need between her legs. As Denna paid special attention to the bruises, Kahlan whimpered and fought wildly not to squirm.

Finally, Denna paused. Kahlan exhaled in relief, until she felt Denna pressing the metal base of the candle holder between her thighs, urging them to fall open. She spread her legs as best she could on Denna’s lap, though she quaked in delicious trepidation. Denna took her left hand from Kahlan’s hair and ran it lightly over the wax that had hardened against her skin. Each soft touch made fresh heat bloom in her center.

Denna’s hand came to rest at the curve of her ass. “ _Don’t. Move_.” Her voice was no more than a low whisper, but the force of it made Kahlan shiver. She would not move.

Ever so slowly, Denna used her fingers to part Kahlan’s cheeks, and Kahlan tried only to remember to breathe. She cried out in shock at the first drop of wax that landed on her hidden flesh, right between the curves of her ass. It hurt, but not like she had thought it would, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted Denna to stop or give her so much more. 

“Please,” she moaned.

For the briefest moment, Kahlan was sure she felt Denna tremble beneath her. But before she could consider if such a thing was possible, if the other woman could be as affected by this as she was, the wax splashed again between her legs. It hit white-hot, directly on the puckered ring of nerves that Denna loved so much, and Kahlan let out a ragged shriek. Denna dripped the wax in slow, rhythmic drops, closer and closer to the spot where Kahlan’s shaking body needed her most.

“Denna!” Kahlan cried, as a generous splash of wax hit her skin.

Burning waves of pleasure rolled through her; she was closer than she could have imagined. Violent panic crashed head-on into her need, and Kahlan’s eyes flew open. She wasn’t wearing the Rada’Han.

“Denna, STOP!”

She slammed her legs shut against Denna’s touch just before she tipped over the edge, and she fought to hold down the pressure that bucked for release. She tumbled from Denna’s lap and scrambled away as fast as she could. The ache in her body receded just enough for her to breathe, and she panted on her hands and knees, halfway to the bed.

In the past, she had locked the Rada’Han around her own neck as she stood in the hallway, before she knocked on the door. But tonight she had wanted something different, and now, she knew, she would pay for her foolishness. Kahlan heard the candle holder clatter to the floor, and she could feel Denna’s shock radiating around the room. Denna was over her before she could blink.

“What do you think you’re doing!” she roared.

Kahlan looked up. “Denna, you don’t understand. I was about to lose control. I’m not wearing the collar.”

Kahlan watched with dismay as her words erased Denna’s shock, only to bring on something more disturbing. Denna’s eyes widened as she stared down at Kahlan kneeling on the floor. Kahlan had been the object of Denna’s quiet anger before, but she had never seen the Mord-Sith like this.

Denna’s voice shook with outrage. “How dare you come here without...”

She seemed so angry that she couldn’t go on, and Kahlan’s heart raced. “Denna, no. I didn’t mean to put you in danger. I swear, I never would have confessed you--"

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT!”

The quiet that followed Denna’s shriek was deafening. Kahlan sat back in stunned silence, afraid to move even a single muscle. Denna no longer looked at the woman kneeling before her, but stared glassy-eyed at a spot over Kahlan’s shoulder.

Kahlan replayed the words in her mind over and over again. Denna didn’t care about being confessed. That wasn’t why she was upset. She studied Denna’s face, but the emotion seemed to have been wiped clean, her rage replaced by a vacant stare. But as Kahlan looked, as she put all of herself into the effort, she saw flashes of something that refused to stay concealed. The realization came over her all at once, and it punched the air out of her lungs. 

Denna wasn’t angry, and she wasn’t afraid. She was _hurt_.

She was hurt that Kahlan had not worn the Rada’Han, that Kahlan hadn’t come prepared to be with her. That maybe, she hadn’t wanted to be with her at all. When Kahlan looked at Denna’s face, at the well-hidden pain she had caused, she felt sick to her stomach. And yet, her heart skipped a single beat. Somehow, she was not the only one with mixed-up feelings.

“Denna,” Kahlan said softly. “I did bring the Rada’Han.”

She leaned tentatively toward her winter cloak, which had been left on the floor. When Denna only continued staring at the wall, she dragged it toward herself. She reached into a deep pocket and curled her fingers around the object she kept hidden there.

“I brought it, I just didn’t expect I would need it so soon,” Kahlan explained.

She pulled the Rada’Han from her cloak and turned it over once in her hands. She stared down at the metal ring, and she tried to gather the courage she would need to tell the truth, because Denna deserved to hear it.

“I didn’t put it on before I came in because...” Kahlan paused, and her cheeks flushed. She forced herself to look back up at Denna. “I hoped you would do it for me.”

She watched as Denna struggled, almost invisibly, to keep the blank look on her face. Slowly, she extended the Rada’Han out to Denna in both her hands. Long moments passed, until her arms ached and she was sure the Mord-Sith would refuse her. Until finally, Denna turned her eyes back to Kahlan’s face.

“You want me to put the collar on you.” Denna’s voice was so quiet that Kahlan wondered if she had meant to speak out loud. But she answered anyway.

“Yes, Denna.”

At last, Denna took a step toward her.

“Give it to me, then,” Denna said. The authority had returned to her voice, though it was husky with something more.

Kahlan stretched up, holding the Rada’Han, and Denna took it from her hands. Denna moved in close, and the gauzy white fabric of her shirt filled Kahlan’s vision. She opened the Rada’Han, and in one motion, she gripped Kahlan’s neck with her free hand and bent over to catch her mouth in a bruising kiss. As her lips tangled with Denna’s, Kahlan felt the collar close around her throat.

She swallowed once against the metal, and the weight of it made the ache between her legs throb. Denna’s mouth didn’t leave hers after the Rada’Han was locked, and Kahlan felt herself being dragged up from the floor and pushed backwards across the room. Denna’s tongue was too insistent for her to focus on anything else, and she was only vaguely aware of her dress dropping to the floor before her legs hit the bed and she fell back. Kahlan was not used to the feeling of it, to the way she was assaulted with Denna’s scent as soon she hit the blankets. She had only been invited to lie here once before, when an unexpected storm arrived and Denna insisted she sleep at her feet instead of ride back to camp through the thunder.

This time, the feel of the bed was altogether different. Denna pinned her to the mattress with her own body, and Kahlan wished for a fleeting moment that she could be forever pressed here between Denna and these blankets. The other woman pulled away slightly, separating their mouths, and Kahlan had to hold in a whimper at the loss her her. Denna used her forearm to hold Kahlan’s shoulders to the bed, and she slid her other hand down to where her leather pressed against Kahlan’s naked skin.

Denna slipped her fingers between her legs, and Kahlan blushed. She knew she was already dripping wet. Denna groaned as she dragged one fingertip through the wetness, and she leaned down to murmur against Kahlan’s ear.

“Good girl,” she said.

Before Kahlan could react to the praise, Denna’s fingers pushed deep and fast inside of her. It was more than she thought she could take, but she forced her thighs to stay open, to spread wider for Denna. She tangled her hands into the blankets, and soon she found her hips rising up to meet each furious thrust. The fingers inside her curled, and she felt her legs shake and her shoulders arch off the bed.

Denna moved her arm from Kahlan’s chest and snaked her hand into the Confessor’s hair. Their lips met once again, and Kahlan was overwhelmed by the feeling of Denna all around her, claiming her. Denna began to move more violently, and the heel of her hand ground against Kahlan’s body with each movement.

Her breathing came in short, desperate gasps, and she dug her fingers into Denna’s shoulders. This time, there was no reason to stop, and she let the pleasure shoot through her.

“Denna!”

“Come for me,” Denna growled.

The command made every muscle in Kahlan’s body scream, and the world exploded around her. She felt her magic held down by the collar, but mostly, she felt as if it were Denna herself wrapped around her neck, holding her together even as she fell apart.

When she opened her eyes, Kahlan felt a sense of calm spread through her tingling body. Only gradually did she realize that her heart was no longer pounding, and she was no longer in the bed, but lying on her stomach on the ivory silk of the chaise that sat against the window. She didn’t remember falling asleep, and her head rose up in alarm. But Denna was right there, sitting in a chair at her hip, and Kahlan let her head fall back on to the chaise.

Denna’s eyes flicked to Kahlan’s, and she stared at the Confessor with an unreadable look. But then the moment passed, and Denna turned her attention to the body in front of her. Kahlan glanced back and saw that the hardened wax was gone from her skin -- either rubbed off against the blankets or wiped away by Denna as she slept, she wasn’t sure which. She had forgotten the pain of the spanking and the burn of the wax while she was in Denna’s bed, aware of nothing but Denna inside her. Now that she saw the marks again, the bruises and the red splotches where the wax had been dropped close to her skin, the sting returned full-force.

Denna seemed to notice Kahlan’s reaction, and though she spoke no reassuring words, she reached out and ran her palm over the hurts she had caused. In her other hand, she held a small copper jar, and Kahlan watched as she dipped her fingers into the thick cream it held. She rubbed the salve into Kahlan’s  lower back, over her ass, and along her upper thighs. At first Denna’s prodding made the marks feel worse, but eventually her skin began to cool, and the pain quieted to a low hum.

Denna had done this for her twice before, both of the times she had used the whip -- Denna had insisted that she did it not do it for Kahlan’s comfort, not at all, but because she wouldn’t want any lingering marks to alert the Seeker to their trysts and put her new life in jeopardy. Each time, and in spite of Denna’s dubious claims, Kahlan had let herself luxuriate in the unusual feeling of being cared for. Kahlan wasn’t sure what she had done to earn such treatment now, but she closed her eyes and relished the pleasure of it.

When Denna was finished, she stood from the chair and crossed the room to the desk where Kahlan had found her, what felt like days ago. Kahlan watched her open the small drawer, tuck the jar away, and pull out something else. When she turned back around, she held the silver hairbrush. Kahlan stiffened, but Denna didn’t look angry. As she walked back to Kahlan, she pointed to a spot on the floor in front of the chaise.

Kahlan rose immediately, though her limbs felt like jelly, and she knelt on the rug where Denna had pointed. She couldn’t imagine what Denna planned to do with her and the brush like this, and she wavered slightly, wondering if she should get on her hands and knees. But before she could move, Denna placed a hand on her shoulder, and she trailed it around to her back as she sat on the chaise behind Kahlan.

“You may sit,” Denna said.

Kahlan shifted off of her knees, and found herself sitting on the floor at Denna's feet. It was not a position she had ever been in before, and she glanced uncertainly at the leather-covered knees on either side of her head. Suddenly, the brush appeared in front of her face, the handle held loosely in Denna’s hand.

“I know that I have shown you only one side of the brush, pet.” Denna spoke from above her. “But tonight I will show you the other.”

She pushed lightly on the back of Kahlan’s head, urging her forward. Kahlan was relieved to finally understand what was expected of her, even if she didn’t like it, and she licked her lips before pressing them to the smooth back of the hairbrush.

After she kissed it, Denna pulled the brush back. After a long pause, Denna began to run the brush through Kahlan’s hair, and she gasped.

The brush in her hair was unlike anything she had ever experienced. She could feel the soft bristles caressing her scalp, easing out the knots, ordering the curls. But most of all, she could feel Denna. Denna touching her, watching her, caring about her. It was a thousand times better than the salve. Better, even, than _good girl, I’m proud of you_. It was such a simple action, so domestic, and it made Kahlan feel fiercely like she would cry and laugh at the same time.

As Denna continued, Kahlan’s body began to loosen, until she felt like she was no longer made of muscle and bone, only soft putty. Her head fell limply against Denna’s thigh. And instead of correcting her posture, Denna allowed it to rest there as she brushed.

When Kahlan’s eyes began to droop and she was sure she would melt right into the floor in a puddle of bliss, Denna stopped.

She let Kahlan sit between her legs for a long time. Kahlan felt the strength gradually return to her muscles, but the warm glow remained. When she lifted her head from Denna’s leg, the other woman stood. She tucked her hands beneath Kahlan’s arms and lifted just slightly, until Kahlan understood the command and rose back on to her knees.

She watched from under her eyelashes as Denna picked the white Confessor’s dress up from the floor, and she raised her arms up as Denna slid it over her head and tightened the laces above her breasts. She saw Denna cross the room and retrieve her heavy cloak, and Kahlan knew they had reached the moment that always came, when she would say that she’d never come back here, and Denna would tell her that she wasn’t welcome anyway.

Instead, as Denna fastened the cloak around her shoulders, Kahlan said nothing. Denna moved in front of her, and she reached around Kahlan’s neck to unlock the Rada’Han. She pulled the metal ring away, and it hung in her hand as she gripped the Confessor’s elbow and urged her to her feet.

Kahlan stood, and they stared at each other for a long moment.

Finally, Denna held out the Rada’Han. Kahlan reached out, but instead of taking the collar, she put her hand on Denna’s bare wrist and pushed it back toward the Mord-Sith.

“I’d like you to keep it here for me,” Kahlan said.

Denna looked down at the collar in her hand, and Kahlan saw something stir behind her eyes. When she looked up, the emotion was gone. “Won’t you need it?” she said.

Kahlan shook her head. “No, Denna. It’s yours.”

Denna’s jaw twitched, and moved the collar behind her back and slid it into her belt. “Very well.”

Kahlan felt a tiny smile on her lips. “Thank you,” she said.

She turned around, then, and made her way to the door that would take her back to her regular life, back to the quest and her duty and the isolation that followed her, even among her friends. As she reached out to turn the doorknob, she heard a quiet voice call out behind her.

“Kahlan.” 

Kahlan froze. She turned around to find Denna watching her, arms crossed over her chest.

“Yes, Denna?”

“You will behave yourself, next time. And I expect you to be good while you’re away.” Denna raised one eyebrow, though her voice was soft.

Kahlan’s smile grew wide. Next time. “Yes, Denna,” she said.

When she turned the knob and stepped out into the darkened hallway, the loneliness that waited with the dawn felt a little farther away. She had left the collar behind, but with her she carried something more dear.


End file.
